dǫçţǫŗ şɭęęƥ (shone) wrote in valloic, @ 2021-12-28 12:32:00 |
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Entry tags: | !: action/thread/log, ₴ inactive: dan torrance, ₴ inactive: sabrina spellman |
There was something quaint about ice skating on a frozen pond, but Dan had a feeling that Vallo would go all out when providing options for that particularly recreational activity. Indeed, after a little research he discovered a fun sort of place - a trail that had a winding path that twisted like the tail of a sea creature, a maze decked out with twinkling lights. At the end of the trail there was also a fine selection of food and drink vendors; sculptures that towered sky-high provided the backdrop for the whole experience and it was definitely nice to be out and about in the fresh air, celebrating part of the holidays by being active. He knew he’d be eating plenty, that was for certain, so to mix it up with exercise seemed like a decent compromise. The winter air actually felt nice, it felt like an escape - but he’d be glad to warm up with some hot coffee or tea or something later on too. Whatever Sabrina wanted. “Alright, it’s been awhile since I’ve been on ice skates,” he chuckled, sitting on a bench and lacing them up right here at the beginning of the trail. Mostly snow and the freezing cold didn’t do it for him (bad Colorado memories, but he didn’t need to get into those), however, this was different. There was something wholesome about it. And he was always glad to spend time with Sabrina with a little bit of holiday cheer in the air - just a little. “Florida had a few indoor rinks, but none like this.” Getting out of the apartment had become easier, even if Sabrina still wasn’t up for big gatherings with lots of people. It was easier in places where she could just absorb herself into part of the crowd and she didn’t know the others, where the looks of pity and worry were absent. She knew she couldn’t stay locked away forever though, even if it was part of what she’d wanted to do those first few weeks. Nick wouldn’t have wanted it, would have wanted her to live her life and experience happiness again. So she was trying to do that. It was easier to do so with the people she loved in Vallo, reminding herself that she never knew when their time together would come crashing to an end as well. There would be no other place she could go that would have Dan or Allison or Claire. Or her dad and Rory. Or dozens of others. So when the offer to go ice skating had come up she’d only hesitated briefly with saying yes. “It’s been a couple of years since I ice skated but I’ve done roller skating here before.” Multiple times even and she figured it was a bit like riding a bike, the basics would come back to her. Balance was always the tricky part. “We didn’t have anything like this back in Greendale either.” She finished lacing her skates and then stood up, thankful she didn’t wobble. “It feels like they’ve used magic to secure the trail.” She could sense it increasing the depth of the ice, making cracks and brakes impossible. “Which is good because I really don’t want to reenact the scene from ‘Little Women’.” “The one where Amy falls into the ice? I think they used a rail?” Dan asked with a bit of a grin - he was a big reader, so yes, he understood that reference. There had been a time when books were his sole companions - when he was so traumatized he couldn’t talk to anyone else. Didn’t want to. Just wanted to escape the ghosts, escape people, escape the rest of the world that hadn’t done much for him or his family at that point. But he’d come around - it took a long time, yet here he was. He held everything Vallo had actually given him close - he knew it was all a lot more fragile than this ice was, so he was grateful for every single day. “Alright, let’s conquer this trail - it’s full of twists and turns, so at least it will be a challenge,” he didn’t wobble either, luckily, and managed to maintain his center of gravity. “It’s all in the knees,” he added, skating forward on the path. Yes, knees - which may hurt him later, damn being an adult. He was probably correct about what they had used--her memories of it were too mixed with different movie versions to say for certain one way or another. It might not have been like the horror novels that she usually preferred, but Sabrina remembered reading it when she was younger. She’d always enjoyed the family aspect of it, wondering what it would have been like to grow up with siblings. Ambrose sort of counted, but he was older than her and while they had gotten up to plenty of mischief together, he hadn’t been able to leave the mortuary for most of her life. Sabrina did a little spin, easily coming to a stop. “I think I’ve got the hang of it.” That was about as fancy as she was going to get though, not wanting to end up on her butt. “Did you guys have a nice Christmas?” It wasn’t a holiday that she really celebrated, focusing more on Yule and Winter Solstice. The gathering at her place had gone well, but she knew Christmas was a holiday that Claire had enjoyed last year at the mortuary. Sabrina’s Semi-Expert Spin earned a supportive round of applause from Dan - he wasn’t about to try anything so daring, at least not yet. Maybe he’d work up the need for an adrenaline rush in the form of attempting something besides following the path shortly here; you never could tell. The bite of the blades in ice was actually somewhat comforting - there were others on the trail, some going slower and some going faster, but in general everyone just kind of was minding their own business and enjoying their own holiday fun so Dan would just follow suit while the winter air brushed his cheeks and felt like cold breath on skin; he wasn’t sure if it was just this pocket of Vallo, but it definitely looked like some kind of Hallmark special. Though he was extremely glad he didn’t get pulled into that mess. “We did, yeah,” he nodded. “Claire’s kind of out of the ‘believing in Santa’ stage but we still made it fun - we had presents and built a gingerbread house. And helped her make thank you cards so expect one soon. There was a lot of biodegradable glitter involved.” Because if they were going to have craft herpes in the house, he wanted it to be somewhat environmentally friendly. “You did really great with that cheesecake, by the way.” He’d worked with Sabrina in the kitchen to prepare most of the Yule feast but the dessert part seemed to be all her - such a far cry from her spaghetti scorching days. Dan was so proud. The comment about glitter had Sabrina’s eyes tearing up for a brief moment, too many memories of Nick and the little girl being ridiculous with the stuff back at the mortuary and in the apartment. She pushed the sorrow that brought about down though, not wanting to let it overwhelm her and ruin this outing with Dan. She worked to focus on the rest of what he’d said instead, though it took her longer than normal to actually reply to him. “Considering how many I went through to get that one perfected I’m glad it actually tasted good.” The others she’d made had as well, but she’d been trying to be bolder and experiment with the flavors, needing something to do and a reason to head out to the grocery store to pick up new ingredients. The flurry of snowflakes tickled her nose and Sabrina was glad she’d worn layers for this, feeling the cold whip up around her as the wind blew in from the north. Autumn might have been her favorite season, but there was something to be said for the crisp, silence that snow brought to the world, blanketing it in a white. The myriad of colorful scarves, hats and gloves broke through the whiteness, giving the otherwise almost dormant world some life. It was supposed to be a time for rest and contemplation, sitting by fires and being with loved ones. “Hopefully you got pictures of the gingerbread house that you guys managed to make.” She wanted to see what it looked like, especially if Claire had taken on most of the decorating. “I went to the Sanctum for a bit so I could see Roz for it.” She didn’t really want to think too hard about what else she’d done that day--or how much she’d ended up drinking--and looked out at the others who were skating around them. “Still not sure what I’m going to do for New Years. I think Ambrose will throw a party for it at Dorian’s.” It would be good for business and she might try to make an appearance. Plenty of pictures - Dan had been pleased with the results, even if the gingerbread house decorations didn’t exactly look to be worthy of a Pinterest board. That was fine though. It was all about togetherness? Or something? “I’ll show you what we have - they’re all on my phone,” he promised. “And, oh, New Years - that’s right.” Sabrina reminded him that there was yet another holiday coming up - he was certain that some of the Vallo denizens were throwing a party (multiple parties) but he hadn’t really checked into it because he wasn’t the type to want to get wild and crazy. Last year he’d gone to Lucifer’s club, and thought it was considerate that the Devil himself had a non-alcoholic option that was actually tastefully done, thought out, and not just ‘well, you can have soda or water, I guess.’ It was nice to not be left out of every celebration, let’s just say. “Maybe I’ll just work?” he laughed wryly, coasting along, taking another turn carefully and leaning into it. “Hopefully it won’t be too crazy at the clinic.” She’d gone to Lux last year as well, and while that was also definitely an option, she could always just hang out in her dad’s penthouse too. It was an option at least. “Working on New Year’s sounds boring.” Well, hopefully, it was boring and Vallo wouldn’t pull any of its insanity for that day. It hadn’t the previous year and from what Sabrina could tell a lot of holidays did seem to be exempt from whenever the monsters showed up. Even the weird Hallmark thing had happened at the beginning of December instead of over the actual Christmas holiday that it was mimicking. Sabrina turned so she was skating backwards as they kept moving along the trail, wanting to be able to look at Dan better as they chatted. “Allison and you deserve date nights and that is a good one. Maybe my dad is doing something similar to what he did last year for it?” It had been a nice night, one full of plenty of good memories, and lots of dancing. And drinking, well, for her. Though now she could legally do that. “Date nights,” Dan repeated, with a twinkle in his eye because, right, what were those? He and Allison tried, but sometimes they didn’t always get there - being parents to Claire seemed like a full time gig on most days, and ‘handling Vallo’ was also full time. Still, if he and his wife wanted some time alone they at least had their pick of babysitters which was nice - they could take Claire to Diego’s, or Sabrina would watch her. Other friends also, though he missed some other Outlander parents who had come and gone over the months. “I think we can work that out, yeah - don’t worry, I won’t ask you to babysit on New Years though.” He assumed Sabrina would want to go out and have fun with her friends, and he didn’t blame her for that. He skated forward a bit and then - oops, definitely wobbled when he attempted a spin of his own. Apparently he was only graceful when he was wielding medical equipment, a needle and a thread, and not so much on the ice. “Try not to break a hip, old man.” Because that would definitely suck and ruin any future date nights. Unless he let her heal him, but it still wasn’t something she wanted to see play out. Sabrina saw the stands coming up with various treats and drink options available. “Especially not when we’re so close to the end.” She glanced around at the various choices, knowing she wanted a hot cocoa, but not quite sure which other option she wanted to go with it. Probably something sweet, though salty was also a pretty good option. “I don’t have any plans aside from popping into Dorian’s for an appearance, so I can babysit if you can’t find anyone else.” That would put a damper on her plans to get ridiculously drunk and not think about how she wasn’t ringing in the new year how she wanted, but she did like spending time with Claire. “Don’t worry, my hips are tougher than they may seem,” Dan snickered - it was true, he was a hardy sort. Would take more than a broken hip to do him in (yet he hoped to avoid it anyway - maybe save that whole experience for later, though breaking a hip while ice skating and, specifically, spinning would make for an amusing story). He coasted along and managed to find his balance again, moving to catch up with Sabrina. As for New Years, well. The thought of actually having a life was difficult to pass up. “I’ll see what Allison wants to do - either way, I imagine we wouldn’t be out horribly late,” he mused, and when he did skate catch-up with Sabrina he reached for her hand, giving it a squeeze - even if she was probably too old to hold hands and skate with her guardian she didn’t even really need anymore, he was still a solid presence regardless. He always would be. For as long as possible. “Whatcha want when we get to the end?” She squeezed his hand back, thankful for his presence in her life. The world might be crumbling down around her sometimes, but it was comforting to have him as a constant in her life. For however long she was able to have that anyway. There was nothing she could do about Vallo’s moods and she’d tempered the urge to unleash her wrath and sorrow on it earlier in the month. It still poked about in her mind sometimes, urging her to try to do something that might bring back who she wanted. There were too many consequences to that though, ones that could lead to others she loved disappearing so Sabrina had stifled the urges whenever they clambered to the surface. “Hot chocolate, of course.” Because being out in the snow practically demanded that being a thing. “And then I think one of the peppermint chocolate donuts.” Because her sweet tooth could not be denied. “Plus a pretzel.” She’d more than worked off any calories that might add up to. “What about you?” “Hot chocolate,” Dan agreed. He wasn’t about to go against the grain there, even though the month of December was saturated with the stuff. But it was just that time of year, right? You couldn’t really go for hot cocoa in June. That didn’t quite feel right. “Might also do a pretzel - or, actually, there’s a food truck that has pie. So I’m not sure I can pass that up either.” The wind scraped his bristly cheeks and he finally managed that spin, just a little one; the look on his face was downright giddy - it was the little things in life sometimes. “Well, at least I managed one toward the end.” Before he stuffed his face with the chocolate peanut butter pie or whatever else was on the menu. It seemed like a good reward no matter what. |